Sinigang for the Sentimental

Making Filipino food is to retell a story of my culture — complex, humbling and personal.

Sinigang is a classic Filipino sour soup with a variety of vegetables that are reminiscent of a Filipino farm. It’s the warm hug that withholds its sentimental, cultural significance in times of a harsh Midwest winter.

Prep time: approximately 15 minutes

Cook time: whenever my parents said the sinigang is ready. I used to call to ask my parents when I made it by myself.

Total time: my whole existence as a Filipino American, because I never stop questioning it.

Note: best prepared with Filipino parents at home, because they are the best cooks in the entire world and all-knowing when it comes to Filipino cuisine, but you reserve the right to disagree with them on other things.

Ingredients

· Meat (pork or salmon are my favs, but if you’re going to use salmon, it’s absolutely necessary that you use the salmon head. Go big and go home.), cubed

· Tubig (water)

· Patis (fish sauce, but always use the one with the green and white label because it reminds you of home)

· Kangkong leaves

· Sili (long green chili pepper, the best ones come from the garden in the backyard), whole

· Kamatis (tomato, the best ones also come from the same garden in the backyard)

· Labanos (daikon radish), sliced

· Taro root, peeled and sliced

· Sinigang seasoning mix, because no one has time to make sinigang from scratch. (You can find packets at your local Asian grocery store. My local Asian grocery store was 50 minutes away. I recommend Knorr or Mama Sita, but I usually just trust whatever my mom or dad picked out. Sampalok, or taramind, is the best flavor in my opinion.)

· Sorry but I never learned exact quantities, because my parents cooked by feel and I carried that technique throughout life.

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

2. Put the meat into the boiling pot of water.

3. Wait for a long time, so long that you wonder the odds of ending up in the cold Midwest when your family comes from a hot and humid archipelago.

4. Become even more hungry.

5. Add the taro root and kamatis. Make sure you cook it all the way, because you heard from a Filipino friend that raw taro root is poisonous.

6. Skim the fat out of the broth.

7. Question why your parents never told you raw taro root was poisonous and how they knew it was properly cooked.